Name: Chau
Background: After Chau's family emigrated from China to the UK when he was 16, he enrolled at a local college and began learning English.
Many years ago, Chau’s father came to the UK to spend time here but later returned to China to marry and start a family. He always had the ambition to return to the UK, and when Chau was 16 that dream became a reality when the whole family came to live in the UK. When his father first visited he saw the vast work opportunities that the UK offered and wanted that for his child too.
Upon arrival in 2013, Chau’s father began work as a chef in an established Chinese restaurant in London, a job he still has and enjoys today. Chau started at college when he arrived and soon realised that the English classes held back in his school in China had not prepared him for this new stage in his life.
“Going to college and being around people who only spoke English was the best learning tool for me. With everyone speaking English, I could begin to understand more and over time my English improved.”
He was a little scared before taking his Secure English Language Test (SELT). He knew he had to take the exam as part of his UK citizenship application, as his parents had done it before him.
“I was scared when I went to sit the test as the thought of an exam, any exam, is scary. But during and after the exam I felt more relaxed. The English exam is taken with an examiner so it felt more like a conversation with a friend, who was asking a lot of questions about you."
Chau now works alongside his father in the Chinese restaurant and eventually would like for them to open a restaurant together.
“Going to college and being around people who only spoke English was the best learning tool for me. With everyone speaking English, I could begin to understand more and over time my English improved.”
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